Death Smiles: Countdown to North America Invasion

GunSpike · Post by **GunSpike** » Mon May 11, 2009 8:02 am

Yeah, I'll definitely switch back to defaults, and make sure auto-save is off. Thanks for the help, I'll post again when I can confirm anything.

EOJ · Post by **EOJ** » Mon May 11, 2009 8:02 am

Another thing that can mess up achievements: you cannot use "restart" anytime (it's an option in the pause menu). If you do, no achievements will unlock after the restart. I found this on the Japanese DS achievement page. I've never used restarts, so I never encountered this problem.

Elixir · Post by **Elixir** » Mon May 11, 2009 8:24 am

EOJ wrote:
Elixir wrote:
EOJ, pretty much everything you've suggested doesn't work.
Works fine for me, and just about everyone else.

Are you just trying that ver 1.1 clear achievement over and over, or are you trying other achievements and they are also not unlocking? And if the latter, which ones?

If you had automatic saving on, that's a big problem. None of the achievements with tally counts will work properly until you turn that off. This includes the "smash the car 10 times" one, the "bath mania" one, the "absorb 65,000 suicide bullets" one, and so on.

Some other achievements have restrictions that aren't mentioned in their description. For example, the "get through a stage without shooting or bombing" one can only be done on the trains stage (and only in chapter 1-1!).

I just went through the train stage (rank 1), didn't shoot or bomb at all (though you have to on bosses), and it still didn't unlock. Like I said, things aren't unlocking.

I'm mainly trying for the 1.1 one, but I've given up on that for now. I managed to unlock the one where you have to get through a single stage without any bombs and only 0.5 health left, so maybe it's just that 1.1 achievement that isn't working.

EOJ · Post by **EOJ** » Mon May 11, 2009 8:38 am

Elixir wrote:
I just went through the train stage (rank 1), didn't shoot or bomb at all (though you have to on bosses), and it still didn't unlock.

Did you continue? You can't continue, but actually you can bomb (again, according to the Japanese DS wiki page). And you only have to get through the stage. It will unlock right when the boss fight starts.

Of course, all these achievements have to be done in X360 or Arcade mode (except the two that can only be done in ver 1.1)

Elixir · Post by **Elixir** » Mon May 11, 2009 8:50 am

I didn't continue, but I did restart. Just unlocked it now without restarting. I still don't know what's up with the ver 1.1 achievement, but I'll get to that another time.

Also, I've found a bug. If you bomb on the dancers just prior to Jitterbug (as in, just before Sakura appears), the 1up won't drop. I killed him off without bombing like usual and he didn't drop the cake, so I can only assume that's the reason why.

EOJ · Post by **EOJ** » Mon May 11, 2009 9:09 am

I found that bug earlier today, and posted about it on cave-stg.

E. Randy Dupre · Post by **E. Randy Dupre** » Mon May 11, 2009 6:37 pm

EOJ wrote: If you had automatic saving on, that's a big problem. None of the achievements with tally counts will work properly until you turn that off. This includes the "smash the car 10 times" one,

I've got autosave turned on and that one unlocked for me without a hitch.
Whatever the issue is with these things, it seems to be completely random.

antares · Post by **antares** » Tue May 12, 2009 1:04 pm

Mega Black Label is now available. 520 MB, 1200 points.

Sonic R · Post by **Sonic R** » Tue May 12, 2009 1:11 pm

EOJ wrote:Another thing that can mess up achievements: you cannot use "restart" anytime (it's an option in the pause menu). If you do, no achievements will unlock after the restart. I found this on the Japanese DS achievement page. I've never used restarts, so I never encountered this problem.

Using 'restart' will also void your score, as in you will not even be allow to enter your name.

I had a 64million run where I restarted a stage and it was all for nothing. I have since then gone to just quitting bad runs and starting anew.

SuperPang · Post by **SuperPang** » Tue May 12, 2009 1:11 pm

Downloading, cheers

Sonic R · Post by **Sonic R** » Tue May 12, 2009 1:15 pm

I hate to ask a redundant question, but will Japanese points be necessary to download the MBL? Will I need to get Japanese points card?

SuperPang · Post by **SuperPang** » Tue May 12, 2009 1:16 pm

Japanese points, Japanese XBL account.

SuperPang · Post by **SuperPang** » Tue May 12, 2009 1:53 pm

Theres also a slightly dodgy premium theme I'm ashamed to have downloaded

GaijinPunch · Post by **GaijinPunch** » Tue May 12, 2009 1:59 pm

Wish they would've waited to release MBL. Not quite done w/ v1.1

Doctor Fugue · Post by **Doctor Fugue** » Tue May 12, 2009 2:05 pm

Any pictures or description of the theme available?

MBL can't fit on my memory card.

Elixir · Post by **Elixir** » Tue May 12, 2009 2:11 pm

Downloading both now. I had to add 2000 points to my account. For some reason I'm always in those situations where I'm about 100 points below what I actually need.

Edit: The theme has the bath scene as the background and the backgrounds of different stages behind your friends, with DS characters on the left and bosses on the right.

sven666 · Post by **sven666** » Tue May 12, 2009 2:19 pm

beware, once you sink your teeth into MBL you'll never look back at vanilla DS.. make sure youre done with it beforehand!!

Elixir · Post by **Elixir** » Tue May 12, 2009 2:30 pm

Doctor Fugue · Post by **Doctor Fugue** » Tue May 12, 2009 2:41 pm

Thanks for the picture; I would prefer something other than the bath scene for the background, though!

agustusx · Post by **agustusx** » Tue May 12, 2009 2:48 pm

Doctor Fugue wrote:Thanks for the picture; I would prefer something other than the bath scene for the background, though!

definitely pass on that... I don't see what it needed its own achievement and all.. Not as cool as the christie shower scene in DOA3

E. Randy Dupre · Post by **E. Randy Dupre** » Tue May 12, 2009 2:58 pm

Little wary of posting this here, because if anybody's going to pick me up on stuff it's you lot, but what the hell. Wrote a short review for Edge, which went online today: here. The description of the gameplay's got a tiny bit mangled in the process of going up and I'm not sure if they're able to fix it now, but it is only a small thing.

edit: Fixed in the time it took me to write this post!

E. Randy Dupre · Post by **E. Randy Dupre** » Tue May 12, 2009 4:19 pm

I didn't think it'd make much difference, but the lack of replays for MBL is a huge shame. I'd have loved to have seen somebody tackling it at lvl999, for a start, but I also would have appreciated being able to use replays to get some pointers on how to reach even a semi-competent score. At the moment, I can't get the counter high enough for it to last through the bosses - it runs out about ten seconds in.

What's a bit offputting, too, is that 1.1 mode is basically MBL taken to its logical extreme, as far as the scoring mechanics go, which makes MBL a little redundant. Unless I'm missing something, that is.

Rebel Ninja · Post by **Rebel Ninja** » Tue May 12, 2009 5:38 pm

I know the online has been laggy for alot of people on this game but does MBL have online co-op as well?

EOJ · Post by **EOJ** » Tue May 12, 2009 10:40 pm

No online coop for MBL.

My initial impressions of the MBL port can be found in the link below. Unfortunately, this port is far from being as accurate as the DS port is to its PCB:

http://www.cave-stg.com/forum/index.php ... 4#msg10144

An excerpt:

I've played this a bit (full run in Arcade (2.8bil) and X360 (2.4bil)), and I can't believe it, but Arcade mode is really fucked up in terms of slowdown emulation. While most of the first six stages are OK, the ice palace is ridiculously messed up, it feels like you're playing it in fast forward - slowdown is missing everywhere. Same with the Castle.

Amazingly, X360 mode MBL is far more accurate in the ice palace and the castle. In fact, the ice palace feels nearly exact to the PCB. Slowdown is noticably missing in some parts of the first 6 stages and it's really messed up on the last boss (again, feels like you're playing it in fast forward) though, so it's not perfect overall, but as of right now it seems like X360 mode is the more accurate of the two.

GaijinPunch · Post by **GaijinPunch** » Tue May 12, 2009 11:52 pm

The early stages feel a bit weird to me. Basically no slowdown at all until Power Up mode. Playing 999 in some places is easier than Level 3. I might keep my kit.

EOJ · Post by **EOJ** » Wed May 13, 2009 12:27 am

Play the Ice Palace in Arcade mode and you'll have terrible flashbacks to the Mushi and Ibara ports. It's that bad.

mistcore · Post by **mistcore** » Wed May 13, 2009 5:45 am

Elixir wrote:snip

Woah, you have Jan Line?
I feel sorry for you man.

Elixir · Post by **Elixir** » Wed May 13, 2009 6:37 am

Uh, no, why the fuck would I black out my own name and leave it in the top right hand corner?

mistcore · Post by **mistcore** » Wed May 13, 2009 7:11 am

In that case, I feel sorry for who ever owns that game.

Elixir · Post by **Elixir** » Wed May 13, 2009 7:13 am

It just looks like some JP mahjong title. Who cares?